“A Church without women is like an Apostolic College without Mary. The role of women mirrors that of the Virgin Mary. And the Virgin Mary if the most important out of all the apostles. The Church is female because she is a wife and mother. The Church cannot be understood without the women that serve it. Here’s an example that has nothing to do with the Church: I see Paraguay’s women as glorious human beings. After the war (Here Francis refers to the bloody war between Paraguay and Brazil which took place between 1864 and 1870, Ed.) there were eight women for each man. And they chose to have children, save the homeland, their culture and their faith. This is how women should be conceived in the Church. We still do not have a theology of women. We need to create one. The Church has discussed the ordination of women bishops and has decided against it. John Paul II gave a definitive answer to this so that door is closed. But let us remember that Mary is more important than the bishop apostles, so women in the Church are more important than bishops and priests.”

This is an excerpt are from an interview Pope Francis gave on the flight from Rio to Rome on the trip home from WYD. The Pope answered dozens of questions, some personal, some about the sensitive and burning issues concerning the Vatican.The Source is the Vatican Insider.